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Snowflake Event

Hundreds of Students Attend Snowflake Retreat

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On Friday night, Middle School North, Middle School South and Oak Grove welcomed approximately 400 students for Snowflake, a fun retreat focusing on personal and social development, promoting sound decision-making and emphasizing teens helping teens. The event was broken up into large group sessions, in which the students watched performances and presentations, and small group sessions, in which they engaged in activities led by high school students and adults. A special shout out to the 40+ staff members and 40 high school volunteers for facilitating groups and working with the students to focus on ways to “wake up, be kind, and repeat”. Lastly, thank you to all of the parents who allowed their students to attend and/or joined us for the parent piece at the end of the evening.
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Snowflake

Snowflake Encourages Students to Live a Healthy Lifestyle

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This year’s Snowflake event at Middle School South was a great success thanks to the help of 55 adult facilitators, 40 Vernon Hills and Libertyville high school students, 400 parents, and many volunteers. More than 370 seventh and eighth grade students from Middle School South, Middle School North and Oak Grove School attended this annual event, which encourages adolescents to make good choices and lead a healthy lifestyle.

The event was broken up into large group sessions, in which the students watched performances and presentations, and small group sessions, in which they engaged in activities led by high school students and adults. This year, Bizar Entertainment provided a musical production that conveyed positive and inspirational messages. During another large group session, motivational speaker Brad Hutig spoke about the challenges he faced when he lost both of his hands in a work-related accident. He had been a three-sport athlete and was eventually able to return to the football team. He told students that they could do things if they really wanted to do them, and encouraged them to find their way.

Toward the end of the evening, the parents attended a presentation from defense attorney Elliot Pinsel, while the students joined a dance. Mr. Pinsel reminded parents that they are accountable for underage drinking in their homes, he encouraged them to talk with their children and know what they are doing in order to prevent law suits and other negative consequences.

At about 10 p.m., students and parents were all smiles as they celebrated the close of another positive Snowflake experience.

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STEAM project

STEAM Project Involves Aliens and Airplanes

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Aliens and airplanes played major roles in a STEAM project implemented in Ms. Howell’s sixth grade IMS class at Middle School South. Students worked together in teams to build paper airplanes that could fly 20 feet while carrying two (paper) aliens. They needed to stay within a specific budget (10 credits) to purchase materials to build their airplanes. The students had great fun testing the distance their airplanes could fly.

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science class

Exploring Energy Transfers

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Seventh grade science classes are having fun exploring different types of energy transfers. They especially enjoyed having their fortunes read by the fortune teller fish.

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Pep Band

Eighth Grade Pep Band Night at VHHS

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As you can tell from the smiles, the 2017 version of the combined Middle South/Middle North/VHHS Pep Band evening on Sept. 8 was filled with fun, friendship and music. What a great way for the eighth graders to get a taste of what’s next in high school band on Friday nights. The evening started with a gathering for a dinner provided by the VHHS Band Parents. After getting the band members all set up with music and rehearsing for 20 minutes, it was off to the stadium for an exciting evening together, cheering on the VHHS football team and all the other fun that goes with a Friday night game. The massed bands performed on the track for a packed crowd, much to the delight of everyone there. Following the performance, the Band Parents stepped up again with hot chocolate for everyone before heading home after a long, wonderful day.

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PowerSchool Student Portal

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In preparation for the Personalized Learning Initiative, students will now use their Google usernames and passwords to access their PowerSchool Student Portal accounts.  Students should not include “@hawthorn73.org” in their usernames. 
 
Students who access the portal via mobile app will need to log out of the app and then back in again using their Google credentials.

Volunteers Complete Assemblage of Chromebooks

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With the help of volunteers, District staff members were able to finish assembling 1,500 Chromebooks a day ahead of schedule.  About 25 people, including parents, spent the day unpacking, tagging and configuring the devices on July 12. At the start of the new school year, the District will equip all middle school students will Chromebooks for one-on-one personalized learning. The tool will help students track goals and learn content at their own pace.

 

District Welcomes New Teachers

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Seven new teachers were introduced at the Board of Education meeting on June 26. They are (right to left) Rachel Calacci (Special Education Teacher at Elementary North), Karrie Hartnett (Science Teacher at Middle School North), Mary Donovan (Special Education Teacher at Middle School North), Megan Faith (ELL at Elementary South), Stephen Weidner (Physical Education Instructor at Middle School North), Carol Meuth (School Psychologist at Elementary North) and Samantha Willingmyre (Bilingual Teacher at Elementary North). They are looking forward to meeting their students in August.

Students Honor Veterans

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The Students of Hawthorn Middle School South greets dozens of local veterans this week during their annual Breakfast of Appreciation. The breakfast offered the students the opportunity to honor Vernon Hills local heroes, thank them for their dedication to this nation, and learn about their history.